The act of getting down to 53 players is a matter of give and take weighing versatility at depth and gambling with the numbers. It is easy to say, hey, this guy did pretty good, we should keep him, but when it comes down to crunching the numbers sometimes a player with promise gets left out.

I decided to take my stab at cutting down the roster to 53 players just to get an idea of what the coaching staff will be going through this weekend. There are a lot of decisions that go into making the final cuts including how many quarterbacks to take into the season, and whether a player’s use on special teams merits him the job over someone that might be a little better at the position.

I decided to go with three quarterbacks, and I really wanted to see if I could keep seven wide-receivers. But even with just keeping one kicker, I couldn’t see going that long at receiver. Here is what I came up with:

QB Tony Romo

QB Brad Johnson

QB Matt Moore

HB Julius Jones

HB Marion Barber

HB Tyson Thompson

FB Oliver Hoyte

FB Deon Anderson

WR Terrell Owens

WR Terry Glen

WR Patrick Crayton

WR Sam Hurd

WR Isaiah Stanback

WR Jerheme Urban

TE Jason Witten

TE Anthony Fasano

TE Tony Curtis

OT Flozell Adams

OT Marc Columbo

OT Pat McQuistan

OT James Marten

G Leonard Davis

G Kyle Kosier

G Joe Berger

C Andre Gurode

C Cory Procter

DT Jason Ferguson

DT Remi Ayodele

DE Marcus Speers

DE Chris Cantey

DE Jay Ratliff

DE Jason Hatcher

LB DeMarcus Ware

LB Anthony Spencer

LB Greg Ellis

LB Kevin Burnett

LB Akin Ayodele

LB Bobby Carpenter

LB James Bradie

LB Junior Glymph

CB Terence Newman

CB Anthony Henry

CB Aaron Glenn

CB Joey Thomas

CB Nate Jones

CB Jacques Reeves

S Roy Williams

S Ken Hamlin

S Keith Davis

S Patrick Watkins

LS L.P. Ladouceur

K Nick Folk

P Matt McBriar

I had to choose between Urban and Davis for that sixth wide-receiver spot, and I had to go with Urban on that one. He’s done far more to show that he’s a capable wide-receiver thus far in preseason.

And even if I had just taken two quarterbacks, I probably wouldn’t be keeping a seventh wide-receiver. I dislike having just three guards on the roster especially considering that Leonard Davis will be filling in at tackle if anything happens to Flozell Adams. But Proctor, who is penciled in as the backup center, can also back up the guard position.

At backup defensive tackle I went with Remi Ayodele. Jay Ratliff is penciled in at defensive end, but he will also be backing up the defensive tackle spot. It is really between Ayodele and keeping a fifth defensive end, but I thinking having the extra security at defensive tackle is worth it.

Cornerback is always a tough one. The first three are pretty easy, and I think Joey Thomas has shown enough to make the squad. Nate Jones has experience in the slot, so he’s probably going to make it as well. That last spot is a tough one, but I went with experience and special teams play and chose Jacques Reeves for it.

For Kicker, I think Nick Folk is going to get that job. I don’t see choosing Gramatica over him after Gramatica has missed a field goal and an extra point in these preseason games. And, at this point, I really don’t see keeping two kickers on the team, though it remains a distinct possibility.

And, those are my picks, at least for now. Hopefully, someone will show me something in this last preseason game to make me think, oh man, why was I thinking of cutting that guy?